Though not explicitly mentioned during the Worldwide Developer's Conference keynote, the Apple TV will also be receiving an update to its differently-numbered iOS software in the near future -- one that supports iTunes Radio and offers a few minor new features. The first beta, which is referred to as iOS 5.4 (notably skipping 5.3 entirely), doesn't yet make any severe design changes but does add support for the forthcoming iTunes Radio, allowing developers a chance to test the service.
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According to reports, AT&T has commenced the effort to enable Apple FaceTime support and Google+ video chat for all customers on its cellular network, not just those on a capped mobile sharing plan. The move starts to fulfill a promise the company made in May to allow customers even on grandfathered unlimited internet plans to use the service.
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According to a an email exchange between then-CEO Steve Jobs and Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue submitted in court earlier today as part of the Department of Justice's e-book price-fixing trial, Apple's co-founder and then-leader read Mac rumor-and-news sites such as AppleInsider and would question the veracity of items found there. In the exchange, which happened just three months after Apple had launched the iBookstore, Jobs wants to know more about self-publishing options.
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HighPoint, an industry leading Storage HBA and solutions manufacturer, has launched a new selection of cost-effective hardware RAID HBA’s for PC and Mac Platforms -- the RocketRAID 362x series. The new line of PCI-E RAID cards are ideal for large-scale configurations of 6Gb/second SATA hard drives, and were designed specifically for I/O intensive business and media applications that require data redundancy coupled with consistent transfer rates.
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6 hours ago | Posted in: iPhone, Apple
Shortly after the publication of what is purported to be an "iPhone 5S" bare logic board that hadn't yet had any chips attached to it, a repair company called iHeart Repair in Florida has revealed new images of what is said to the be the display assembly of the forthcoming iPhone revision. Though the images do not reveal any huge changes, the alternation of where a pair of flex connectors is situated matches the logic board, meaning the parts would fit together correctly if mated and supporting their legitimacy. Why Apple may have made the change isn't clear.
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Oculus VR, Inc., Oculus Rift VR headset developer, today announced that it has closed a deal for $16 million in funding. The round was co-led by Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Santo Politi, Spark founder and general partner; and Antonio Rodriguez, entrepreneur and general partner at Matrix, have joined the company's board of directors. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of virtual reality hardware, software and services, ultimately creating commercially available virtual reality platform.
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Under questioning at the ongoing DoJ v. Apple antitrust trial, the man who negotiated Apple's iBookstore deals with publishers -- Eddy Cue -- today disclosed some minor facts about Steve Jobs' involvement with the iBooks app. The topic came up during examination by Apple attorney Orin Snyder. Earlier in the trial, Cue established that Jobs was heavily into the concept of iBooks and the iBookstore once iPad development started ramping up. During today's testimony, Cue revealed that Jobs had micromanaged some of the smallest details of iBooks.
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Two more anonymous patent re-examination requests for Apple patents have been filed with the US Patent and Trade Office (USPTO). The two patents, involving Apple's visual voicemail and autocorrect features are both at stake in the ongoing legal maneuvers between the Cupertino manufacturer and Samsung.
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8 hours ago | Posted in: industry, Apple
The Department of Justice's antitrust case against Apple is entering its final four days this week, according to Fortune. The original orchestrator of Apple's publisher deals for the iBookstore, Eddy Cue, is resuming court testimony today, having last testified on Thursday afternoon. Today's topics are expected to include a dinner Cue had with Macmillan's CEO, and disputed emails written to Cue by former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
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9 hours ago | Posted in: Apple
A paperback version of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs is going on sale September 10th, according to publisher Simon & Schuster. The new edition will differ little from previous digital and hardcover releases, mainly gaining a new afterword and a new cover. The latter is a photo by Norman Seeff shot in 1984, but with Jobs in the exact same pose as the previous cover, which used an Albert Watson portrait from 2006.
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Sprint has expanded its 4G LTE coverage in the United States. The addition of LTE to 22 more markets means that Sprint now covers a total of 110 areas, with the carrier also naming other locations that will have LTE access in the coming months, bringing it closer to its goal of covering 200 million people with its LTE network by the end of this year.
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11 hours ago | Posted in: iPad
Screenshots out of a hacked iOS 7 simulator show a facsimile of what the iPad edition of iOS 7 will look like, reports say. The images, captured by Sonny Dickson, depict apps like Maps, Safari, and the Game, Control, and Notification Centers. Buttons appear to be rearranged in some instances, and/or include functions that would only make sense on an iPhone or iPod touch, such as a camera flash trigger.
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11 hours ago | Posted in: security
The Wikimedia Foundation has not been compromised under the PRISM spying program, and has not been asked to collect data on behalf of the National Security Agency (NSA), according to a statement released over the weekend. The foundation is also asking for feedback about what it should do about the threat to the privacy of its users and contributors.
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In celebration of its tenth anniversary, IGG Software is offering a $10 discount on all of its Mac apps, including iBank 4, iBiz 4, iBiz Pro, iBiz 4 Client and iPaste. The discount applies to all purchases of full versions of the software through the online store, as well as through the Mac App Store. The discounted prices are already reflected in both stores and will remain in effect until July 15. In addition, iBank for iPad has also been reduced to $10 for the duration of the anniversary sale.
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Microsoft-owned Skype today announced that its Video Messaging feature has left the preview stage and should now be available in most of its native client apps. Desktop support includes OS X and Windows/Windows 8. Compatible mobile platforms, meanwhile, include iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry.
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12 hours ago | Posted in apps
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iTubeX can be used to download Flash and HTML5 videos from almost any video website. Users can save YouTube videos as FLV or high-quality MP4 files, while videos from other sites can be saved in a variety of formats, such as DivX, MOV, and M4V. An issue that caused the softer to be unable to download/extract audio from some YouTube videos has been fixed. Additionally, iTubeX will now still work if a user has joined the HTML5 trial.
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Duplicate Annihilator can scan an entire iPhoto library and identify any duplicate images stored within. All of the duplicates are marked according to the users preferences, or can be sent directly to the trash. The v4.9 update adds a fix for users with corrupt file permissions, and is now fully compatible with OS X Mavericks.
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Bookends is a tool that can help users organize reference information and create bibliographies. In v12.0 users can now import references and PDFs from the web while in the library windows. The database engine has also been updated with a new journaling feature that can help protect against database loss or corruption in the event of a crash. Other changes include improved detection of DOIs on web pages, new formatting options, and easier creation of new references from multiple attachments.
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Byword is a text editor that has been designed for use with Markdown formatting. The update fixes a crash that occurred when converting text to lists or quotations in plain text mode, and adds more flexibility in what is accepted when publishing to Evernote. Additionally, support for self-hosted WordPress blogs has also been improved.
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Path Finder is a file management utility that offers an interface similar to Finder, but adds extra features, including a dual pane file browser, and tab management. In v2.6.1, the centered Dual Pane option is automatically turned on when the divider is placed directly in the center. This option can then be turned off by moving the divider manually.
13 hours ago | Posted in: iPhone
A Japanese parts company, Moumantai, says it has obtained a logic board for Apple's next-generation iPhone, commonly expected to be called the iPhone 5S. The board is similar in design to the one for the iPhone 5, but shows some significant differences in the layout of its chips, circuitry, and holes. While no chips are actually attached, the space for the main processor hints that Apple's next A-series chip will be larger than the A6, which is currently used in the iPhone 5.
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